Yarn take-up



June 17, 5 S PIERRE I 2,422,599

YARN TAKE-UP Filed March 20, 1945 f/w/zwm:

Patented June 17, 1947 YARN TAKE-UP Eugene St. Pierre, Pawtucket, R. I.,assignor to Hemphill Company, Central Falls, R. I., a corporation ofMassachusetts Application March 20, 1945, Serial No. 583,721

8 Claims.

This invention relates to a new and useful improvement in yarn take-upssuch as are used on knitting machines of the circular, independentneedle type. Take-up mechanisms of the same general type are not new.One is disclosed in Patent #2,l93,311. The take-up of this invention issuperior to those already known primarily in a control of the tension ofthe take-up spring which varies its effective tension and adapts thetake-up to the exacting requirements of fine gauge knitting such as theknitting of sheer ladies stockings.

One form of the invention, designed for a circular, independent needle,knitting machine of the Banner type, is shown in the drawing of which:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a pair of take-ups and their controllingmechanism;

Fig. 2 is a plan View of similar scope; and

Fig. 3 is a view illustrating the free end of a take-up.

As many take-ups as desired may be used. They may be identical. Two areshown in the drawing, one in inoperative and one in operative position.

As shown in Fig. 1 the take-up consists of the usual light wire armidentical with the similar arm 2 of the other take-up, the free end ofwhich is bent down and terminates in a yarn guiding loop similar to loop3 of the other take-up and through which the yarn passes on its way fromthe cone to the yarn lever.

The other end of arm I is fixed in a block 4 pivoted on a horizontalshaft 5. In the form shown block 4 is slotted as at 5 so that thetake-up arm 1 can be slid into it sideways after which it is fixed inposition by set screw 1. Extending rearwardly of block 4 is a tail 8which may be integral with arm i. This tail is offset laterally of arm las best shown in Fig. 2. Below tail 8 is an arm 9 of substantiallyrectangular shape one end of which terminates in a loop I!!! throughwhich tail 8 passes.

On the frame ll of the take-up is pivoted as at l2 a rocker I3, theother end M of which is adapted to be engaged and lifted by a cam [5 ona pattern drum l6. Intermediate the ends of rocker i3 is a clamp i1consisting of a disc l8 and a screw l9 threaded into rocker [3. Arm 9has a semi-circular bend 2!) at this point and terminates in asubstantially circular loop 2! around pivot 12. In this way, anadjustment is provided for arm 9 since it can be moved verticallytowards and away from screw I9 within the limits of clamp i1.

At the bend 22 of arm 9 is attached a spring 23, the other end of whichis fastened to any suitable fixed part of the machine frame. Nor

maliy the downward pull of spring 23 causes arm 8 to urge arm I upwardagainst the resistance of the yarn. In so doing loop In at the end ofarm 9 slides along tail 8. In this way, the effectiv length of tail 8with respect to shaft 5 upon which the take-up is pivoted is varied sothat the tension exerted by the spring is also varied from what it wouldbe were the spring attached directly to the take-up as has beencustomary in the past. By shaping tail 8 in a suitable manner, as bestshown in Fig. 1, the efiect of spring 23 can be additionally adjusted.In former take-ups the spring had to be strong enough to lift thetake-up arm quickly to its highest position, say degrees or more abovethe horizontal. As a result, when the take-up arm moved down the tensionof the spring increased constantly and unavoidably became too greatwithin the working range of the take-up while knitting is being carriedon.

When knitting extremely sheer fabric such as a ladies stocking, verysmall errors in method, particularly those affecting the yarn, producevery noticeable fabric defects. It has been found that the tensioningeffect of spring 23 upon take-up arm I should be substantially uniformthroughout the movement of the take-up and, in some in stances, shouldbe lighter when the take-up is down than when it is raised so that thetake-up will exert a negligible or minimum effect upon the yarn duringknitting.

Often it is desirable that the lifting effect of spring 23 upon arm Ishould increase as the arm rises in spite of the decreasing actualtension of the spring. All of these things can be accomplished by thehook-up described above through the proper shaping and proportioning ofarm I, tail 8, arm 9 and spring 23. Since an infinite variety ofconditions are met in the knitting of various fabrics these matters mustand can be left for determination by those skilled in the art. Themanner in which a take-up of this character operates is otherwise toowell-known to require further description.

Whenever the take-up is to be made inoper tive it is accomplished byrotating drum is so that cam [5 will be lifted by it. This raises arm 9and permits arm I to drop to a horizontal position. This is the positionshownfor take-up arm 2, its arm 25 (the equivalent of arm 9) having beenraised by lever 26 under the influence of cam 21 which is the equivalentof cam l5. The length of upwardly extending part 28 of arm 25 is suchthat when this arm is raised, as just described, the bottom of loop 29at its end will press against the underside of tail 30 thus locking thetakeup in its down position. The length of each earn and 2'! is suchthat the respective rocker will continue to ride upon it and thecorresponding take-up remain locked until it is to function again. Inother words, the length and position of each of these cams and the rateof rotation of drum it corresponds with the timing of the knittingoperation with which they are concerned.

Associated with each take-up and operating thereby is a yarn clamp whichopposes the feed ing of the yarn from the cone whenever the takeup risesbeyond its normal range of operation during knitting. This consists of apivoted arm 3 l, the front end of which constitutes an operating lever32. The other end 33 of lever 35 is fixed to a similar end 34 of anotherlever, the other end 35 of which comprises one element of a yarn clamp.The other element of the clamp consists of a block 30, the upper end ofWhich is in exact alignment with the lower edge of clamp element 35.

Block 4 which carries the take-up arm i is also provided with anextension 37 adapted to engage the end of arm 32 and swing it downward.When this occurs part 35 of the yarn clamp is swung up and away frompart 36 so that the clamp has no effect upon the feeding of the yarn.This is the situation shown with respect to the take-up represented byarm 2. Part 38 of its yarn clamp has been swung away from the other partby the engagement of end 39 of block 60 with the end of arm 4!, theequivalent of arm 32.

The clamp is closed when the take-up arm 1 reaches the positionindicated in dotted line at 12 which is somewhat higher than its normalupper most position while knitting is going on. Thus the yarn is free tobe fed from the cone to the needles during knitting but will be clampedso that it cannot be fed from the cone whenever the take-up risesappreciably higher; The connection between ends 33 and 34 of the leverwhich operate each yarn clamp is'by means of a screw or bolt 43 passingthrough elongated slots. Consequently, the position of part 35 of theclamp in relation to arm 33 can be varied so as to insure that the clampoperates efiiciently and at the desired position of the take-up arm.

Part 33 of the yarn clamp is also mounted upon its support 44 so that itcan be adjusted verticall and. fixed at its correct position by a screw45.

The entire take-up and its operating drum can be mounted in anydesirable way. Here its bracket H is shown attached to the upright 46which supports the bobbin stand and other parts of the upper part of themachine. Drum I 5 may be operated by any suitable mechanismunder thecontrol of a pattern drum or any other suitable timing device.

I claim:

1. A yarn take-up for a knitting machine which includes an arm, one endof which is supported by a horizontal pivot so that it is swingable in avertical plane, an extension of said arm, a lever associated therewithfor swinging said arm upwardly and means associated with said lever forenergizing said lever.

2. A yarn take-up for a knitting machine which includes an arm, one endof which is supported by a horizontal pivot so that it is swingable in avertical plane, an extension of said arm, a lever associated therewithfor swinging said arm upwardly and resilient means associated with saidlever for energizing said lever.

3. A yarn take-up for a knitting machine which includes an arm, one endof which is supported by a horizontal pivot so that it is swingabl in avertical plane, an extension of said arm, a lever associated therewithfor swinging said arm upwardly, resilient means associated with saidlever for energizing said lever and means for looking said arm in itslowermost position.

4. A yarn take-up for a knitting machine which includes an arm, one endof which is supported by a horizontal pivot so that it is swingable in avertical plane, an extension of said arm, means associated therewith forswinging said arm upwardly, resilient means associated with said lastmentioned means for energizing said last mentioned means and means forisolating said arm from said resilient means.

5. A yarn take-up for a knitting machine which includes a verticallyswingable take-up arm having an extension, mean for swinging said armupwardly which consists of a source of energy which is greatest when thearm is down and which decreases progressively as the arm rises and alever associated with said source of energy and said extension forapplying the decerasing energy of said source to said arm so that itsraising power with respect to said arm increases progressively as itsinherent energy decreases.

6. A yarn take-up for a knitting machine which includes a verticallyswingable take-up arm having an extension, resilient means for swingingsaid arm upwardly which consists of a source of energy which is greatestwhen the arm is down and which decreases progressively as the arm risesand a lever operatively interposed between said extension and saidresilient means for applying the decreasing energy of said source tosaid arm so that its raising power with respect to said arm increasesprogressively as its inherent energy decreases.

' 7. A yarn take-up for a knitting machine which includes a verticallyswingable take-up arm having an extension, a tension spring for raisingsaid arm, the inherent energy of said spring being greatest when saidarm is down and progressively decreasing as said arm rises and a leveroperatively connected to said spring and said extension for causing theraising power of said" spring to increase with respect to said arm asits inherent energy decreases.

8. A yarn take-up for a knitting machine accordingto claim 5 which alsoincludes means operable by the knitting machinefor isolating said armfrom said swinging means at any desired time.

EUGENE ST. PIERRE.

REFERENCES CETED llhe following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS

